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Brexit: How Will EU Overseas Development Aid Be Affected?

The EU faces a substantial drop in its development resources following Brexit. Still, the amount will depend on how “hard” that exit is, and the UK’s ongoing involvement in voluntary EU-level arrangements. Here we assess the potential size of the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funding drop that EU institutions could face. At the UN General Assembly, Theresa May already confirmed that the UK will continue to “honour its commitment” to spend 0.7 percent of national income on development. However, following Brexit, this aid may be spent very differently, particularly the 9.8 percent of UK aid spent via EU institutions in 2014. One short-term change is that UK Sterling contributions to the EU are likely to see a steep increase over the next two years before full Brexit since the EU budget is assessed in a strengthening Euro. But what about after Brexit? The EU itself is a major contributor to development—together its members are the largest aid donor and account for over half of the total $132bn development aid in 2015. The EU’s institutions (see below) are responsible for around a fifth of total EU aid spent (so over 10 percent of all aid).